Whoops! Forgot to extend manual LL exponent...
 

...and now it's been assigned to someone else.

I realized that I still had this LL from a CUDALucas GPU months ago, only last week when it had already gone 174 days without reporting, so I started a Prime95 worker on my new fast machine (to be finished in about 13 days total, January 5). In my haste (and with all the holiday distractions, we were going to a party that night), I neglected to request an extension for the exponent.

Today I saw that the exponent has been reassigned to someone else. Should I continue working on it? I don't want to get accused of poaching an exponent that I'd had.

Please advise.

Rodrigo

If it is a first time, [U]finish it.[/U] It will just be a fast DC. If you were doing a DC, wait and see if they turn it in soon. If they do and it does not match, you can do a quick TC.

Just to add to Uncwilly's response, and note that some people will disagree with me: if it's a first time test, do indeed finish it, but it's most polite to wait until the new assignee has turned in their result before you report yours (so that yours is a DC as Uncwilly suggests). Otherwise you can indeed be accused of poaching.

If the former assignee were to name the exponent, the current assignee might be able to offer some guidance, eventually. :whistle:

There seems to be no consensus as to how to handle this kind of situation?

It's a LL first-time test. It could take months for the exponent to be done, and I didn't find clear evidence that the new assignee participates in the Forum.

Maybe simplest, for all concerned, is to drop the exponent?

Rodrigo

[QUOTE=Rodrigo;323192]There seems to be no consensus as to how to handle this kind of situation?[/QUOTE]
Why do you say that? I see no disagreement at the moment. Just several suggestions which complement each other. You could take up everything that has been suggested so far without any contradiction, or take up some of the suggestions and discard others, or just go your own way. It's your call.

[QUOTE]It's a LL first-time test. It could take months for the exponent to be done, and I didn't find clear evidence that the new assignee participates in the Forum.[/QUOTE]So ask yourself whether you are prepared to wait months or not; and try to make what you will of ckdo's interesting-sounding hint. Perhaps the fact that he made the hint is in itself evidence of forum participation...?:rolleyes:

[QUOTE]Maybe simplest, for all concerned, is to drop the exponent?

Rodrigo[/QUOTE]Now that would be a real waste of the cycles you've already put in, wouldn't it?

[QUOTE=Brian-E;323171]Just to add to Uncwilly's response, and note that some people will disagree with me: if it's a first time test, do indeed finish it, but it's most polite to wait until the new assignee has turned in their result before you report yours (so that yours is a DC as Uncwilly suggests). Otherwise you can indeed be accused of poaching.[/QUOTE]

It could get complicated either way if the number turns out to be prime. :O

[QUOTE=Brian-E;323197]Why do you say that? I see no disagreement at the moment. Just several suggestions which complement each other. You could take up everything that has been suggested so far without any contradiction, or take up some of the suggestions and discard others, or just go your own way. It's your call.
[/QUOTE]

Well, you yourself wrote that
[QUOTE]Just to add to Uncwilly's response, [B]and note that some people will disagree with me:[/B] if it's a first time test, do indeed finish it, but it's most polite to wait until the new assignee has turned in their result before you report yours (so that yours is a DC as Uncwilly suggests). Otherwise you can indeed be accused of poaching.[/QUOTE][emphasis added]

This suggests that there is disagreement (rather than a consensus) as to how to proceed generally in this type of situation.

There is also a specific disagreement there as to whether finishing the work and turning it in when it's done would be considered simply a fast DC, as Uncwilly wrote, or a case that could be viewed as poaching, as you point out.

[QUOTE=Brian-E;323197]So ask yourself whether you are prepared to wait months or not[/QUOTE]
Considering that I already let a manual assignment sit for almost half a year unaware of its existence, then the answer is that a choice is preferable if it simplifies the clerical work. Bottom line: I am not prepared to wait months for this to settle out. There is too much going on otherwise, to keep track of this.

[QUOTE=Brian-E;323197]

Now that would be a real waste of the cycles you've already put in, wouldn't it?[/QUOTE]
At this point it would be six days of one P95 worker out of three on one particular machine. I don't consider that a big price to pay for the sake of simplicity.

So: I'd like to finish this LL, but not if I have to ask around and start coordinating or making special arrangements.

Rodrigo

[QUOTE=ixfd64;323199]It could get complicated either way if the number turns out to be prime. :O[/QUOTE]
Good point!

I would then feel like the guy at the slot machine who stopped putting in quarters and the next guy hits the jackpot...

Rodrigo

[QUOTE=Rodrigo;323200]So: I'd like to finish this LL, but not if I have to ask around and start coordinating or making special arrangements.[/QUOTE]
There is nothing you [I]have[/I] to do, Rodrigo.

You're quite right: if by consensus you meant a blueprint of the procedure for solving this situation, then no, there isn't one. This is a question of ethics and of how you treat another human being (the person who is currently assigned your LL test), and that is for you to decide.

People will disagree about which of various measures you could take are absolutely necessary and which are just special courtesies. But that is not in itself a reason to throw the well-meant suggestions you've been given into the trash and abandon the work you've done.

[QUOTE=Brian-E;323202]There is nothing you [I]have[/I] to do, Rodrigo.

You're quite right: if by consensus you meant a blueprint of the procedure for solving this situation, then no, there isn't one. This is a question of ethics and of how you treat another human being (the person who is currently assigned your LL test), and that is for you to decide.

People will disagree about which of various measures you could take are absolutely necessary and which are just special courtesies. But that is not in itself a reason to throw the well-meant suggestions you've been given into the trash and abandon the work you've done.[/QUOTE]
I'm not throwing anything into the trash, I'm simply asking what people think should be done in this situation, in the hope that a consensus had already been established as to what to do.

Certainly the suggestions are well-meaning, and I appreciate getting them, but unfortunately they haven't provided that consensus view I was hoping to get.

Look, I'm trying to do "the right thing" here. I don't want to report this LL if the current assignee could view it as poaching. If there is a way to turn it in and have it [B]ipso facto[/B] treated as a DC, no muss no fuss, then I'll simply go ahead and finish it. But as things (apparently) stand, the situation is not so clearcut and I have several factors to weigh against each other: my desire to do the right thing, my wish to do more work for GIMPS, and the administrative complications of dealing with this non-standard circumstance.

My controlling consideration is not to intrude on someone else's work. Together with the strong preference for keeping things simple, they outweigh the desire not to waste those CPU cycles.

So I would ask: if I reported this LL, would PrimeNet simply accept it as a DC and await the new assignee's result as a first-time test? Surely there is a clearcut answer to that.

Rodrigo